MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

2/28 Cactus League start

Randy Wells will get things started for the Cubs when they open Cactus League play Thursday against Oakland at HoHoKam Park. Lou Piniella said Wells will be followed by Sean Marshall, J.R. Mathes, Mike Parisi and Esmailin Caridad.

* Angel Guzman threw 25 to 30 pitches from 45 feet on Sunday in the batting cage and felt good. If there’s no discomfort in his shoulder, he will throw on the mound Monday. “His shoulder felt a lot better,” Piniella said.

* Sunday’s workout was cut short because of the rain. John Grabow faced some hitters for a live BP session and that was it. “If we were going to lose a day of work, today was the day,” Piniella said.

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